The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-08-18
|. THE IMPORTANCE

OF this law is expressed in the marked
prominence given 10 a single subject of To-
the teacher and the district for neglect or
disobedience. This unprecedented emph asis
| in the imposition OF a duty upon the schools
can only be explained IN the prevailing
alarm at the ravages of this single vice OF
intemperance among the youth and strong
men of our land. irrespective of birth or po-
sit ion md in the conviction that a system
of schools, to which are com mILted our
children for many years, should establish
them in knowledge and habits that will pre-
pare them TO resist temptations to insidious
and destructive vices.
2. THE SCOPE OF THE Law.
1t is not doubtful that the specific demand
in the law and in the pubic mind is that the
effects Of stimulants and narcotics upon the
is not to be disguised or obscured; but
1t is also representative of and includes a
broader demand fora kind of instruction
that has been generally neglected.
Hitherto our teaching has recognized the
importance of facts and laws of the world
around us. Children have been taught to
observe and know things external. Public
sentiment has begun, in many ways, to af-
firm the importance of selfknowledge, and
that the intelligent care of ones self in a
CONSCIENTIOUS E,,;s regard for those laws upon
beginning of wisdom, the prime condition 10
a successful life. Applied to the physical it
is required that our youth be made ac-
quaipted, in degree and manner appropri.
ate to their age, with the general facts of
physiology and the laws of health, and that
| they be trained to habits of intelligent
observation. TO self-mastery and care of their
own persons, as they pass gradually from
the years of instinctiye action TO those of
intelligent judgment and responsibility
This view appears in the letter of the law
which requires shat provision be made for
regular and systematic INSTRUCTION. in pbysi-
ology and hygiene, including a special refer
ence o the effects of stimulants and mar
cotics upon the human SYSTEM" This places
all necessary stress upon the special require
ment in reference to stimulanIs and narcot-
les, but fOrttfies the work done in this single
direction in the broader culture by which
each pa. of the man is strengthened by the
health and strength of the rest. That this
this, that the law, both in its form and i'm its
practical application, includes all that our
schools will teach in physiology and hy-
giene. Place must be given TO the subject as
named in this law, and what is not Included
here is practically shut out of Il course al
ready Overcrowded. Under this law, then
the schools must give as much instruction
as is reasonably required, ID OF only to protect
our youi n from the evils of intemperance
but from all other physical evils that find
their strength in ignorance and disregard of
hpgienIc law.
In summary, the following rules should be
aimed at:
l.. Childrer should be trained to consci-
entious regard for and obedience to hygienic
law They should feel that laws Of health are
sacred, and that they ought not TO do what
in any degree impairs or threatens the
high ideal of health, its beauty, its power
and its usefulness; and withaI cultivate an
ambition toward physical as well as moral
perfection. This If the first commandment
With it. what followed will be OF use: with
OUT 1t, all else will be no mole than inteIlec-
tual merchandise.
q They should know how the elements OF
the word around them affect them, and con-
dition the health and the use of their bodies
as III the structure of the hody in its frame
work, muscles, nerves. organs OF nutrition
and of sense; (2) the sustenafice of the BODY
in air. food and drink; (9the care of the
body in cleanliness, rest and clothing.
Respecting the special subject of the In
f1uence of stimulants and narcotics upon the
human system, teachers are required to give
the well-authenticated declarations of sci.
ence. II a subject which is related to vari-
oHs social and economic problems, the teach
er should teach with scfen. ific accuracy and
impartiality. And, as a teacher, he should
not lntrude those questions to which he has
the right OF discussion as 8 citizen but not
as teacher. The treatment of the subject
as required by law properly includes the
following:
!; Names and sources of the common mar
2, Effects, BY their use, upon the dif1erent